Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Arizona state Senate have voted down a bill that would allow employers to drop health insurance coverage for birth control if it conflicted with their moral or religious beliefs. Under the state’s current laws, only religious nonprofits are allowed to opt-out of covering contaceptive care, while the new bill would have expanded the exemption to include all employers. The rejection of the contraception bill offers a major boost in morale to women’s rights advocates who may have felt they were losing ground in the fight over the reproductive rights of women in the state of Arizona following the Senate’s 20-10 passage of a bill that bans most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy with the exception of medical emergencies.

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